that air during "way too early" or "morning joe.." >> a lot of people said anything with a dancing gecko. if you're a reptile, i guess for some. any ad for rush limbaugh. >> i was out walking the dogs this week. crunch a bunch. the new chicken enchiladas. >> it's changing the game. >> what would jared do? that is a tuesday edition of "way too early." "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ good morning. it's tuesday, march the 4th. march, march, march. it's springtime, willie. man, it feels like it out there. >> 9 degrees. >> so cold. so cold. >> i think this morning was the coldest morning of the year. at least it felt like the coldest morning.

we are here inside and it's warm. thanks for being with us. we have the great willie geist, mike barnicle, and former treasury official and "morning joe" economic analyst steve rattner. in washington, pulitzer prize and winning editor for "the washington post" gene robinson along with washington correspondent for the "the washington post," julie. red sox will be playing baseball soon. >> it's hard to imagine. playing on the frozen tundra. i've been reading about this the past 12, 14 hours, america wants to know. >> about putin, right? >> was he at the "vanity fair" party? >> we slipped him out the back. when mccartney came in, he went out the back. >> mccartney was there? >> yes. my idol. he must have seen me and run the

opposite direction but, no. as you guys know, everybody is there. they do it right. we are not exactly sure why we were but it was fascinating stuff. mark sullinger who got mika in trouble before tried to do it again. all of these "vanity fair" shots what they called a little photo booth. >> did you have to stay and clean up after? was that part of the package? >> that was the only way we got here! the worst part was right there. we to actually talk to louis. you have to talk to louis. >> did you see louis with larry david? we played the clip. >> oh, my gosh. >> so funny. so funny. >> larry davidson, we saw larry david twice. on friday at a party and on

friday, mika is coming up. here, here, come here. he takes out a breath mint and he gives it to her. >> really? >> really. i'm thinking, okay, this is just sort of his move. this is what larry does. then on sunday, he's gone up to drops. hey, come here, come here. "vanity fair" party and mika is there. he goes, open your mouth. open your mouth. >> was it just mika or his thing? >> i think it was just mika. i did not see him do it to jennifer lawrence. >> that is weird. >> is that crazy? >> that is weird. >> weird. so i'm looking at the newspapers. de blasio is getting basically elbowed aside by the governor on this terrible, terrible idea that they are actually -- even talking about it at the "vanity fair" party, the so-called liberals not believing what de blasio is trying to do with some of the best functioning charter schools in minority neighborhoods in new york and they were talking about it. >> were they really?

>> they really were and were angry with de blasio saying, hey, we are democrats and we hope he works it out. i think there are a lot of people, a lot of business people, a lot of, quote, stars that have invested a lot and some of these harlem charter schools. >> yeah. it's a huge -- it's a huge area of interests as you say for not just conservatives but for a lot of moderates and liberals i know. de blasio has made this into an ideological war he is taking a stand he wants the kids in the public schools and you know that -- >> this is deeply personal. >> yes. >> he even hates moscowwite. he made a promise during the campaign. in the end, he punishes a lot of minority children and parents who feel like it's a god-send their children have been able to get into these schools and people are so desperate to get

into, they have lottery systems. >> we have seen it time and time again. as we said, not every charter school is a success and people make that point. these schools, success academy run by moscowitz have been successful so what they are doing here is denying giving them free rent inside public schools, de blasio says i want to make the public schools good and not help you make your already good schools better. he is really targeted and gone after these so now protesters up inab in albany today. parents are protesting today and the mayor needs the help of governor cuomo because this is state funding so he can't do this unilaterally and governor cuomo has shown he probably won't go along with it. >> good for the governor. de blasio is standing in the schoolhouse door. but for the poorest and

disadvantaged children of color in new york city so good for cuomo. we will talk about that issue in a moment. first, no sign of agreement or easing over russian's invasion of crimea. moments ago, russian president vladimir putin spoke to reporters calling the ouster of ukraine's president a military coup and saying the people should be able to choose their future on what he called a level playing field. he added no need to use military force in crimea for now, but he does reserve the option to do so. even so, the u.s. ended all military relations with the kremlin and suspending trade talks and congress is drafting own sanctions. initial efforts that 6,000 troops in the peninsula ballooned to 16,000 and all intents and purposes the troops control the area. ukraine's navy sang together in defiance and their ships are blocked. russia ordered the crews surrender or be stormed.

protests have turned deadly. 11 cities have seen pro russian protests and in some participants have stormed buildings there. little appetite in the u.s. or europe to get involved militarily at this point. a growing rift over what posture the united states should take. >> not be done is for russia with impunity to put its soldiers on the ground and violate basic principles that are recognized around the world. and i think the strong condemnation that it's received from countries around the world indicates the degree of which russia is on the wrong side of history on this. >> we can exit out economic sanctions. there is a broad array of options that we have. why do we care? because this is the ultimate result of a factless foreign policy where nobody believes in america's strength any more.

>> as that clip showed, of course, even though this is an international crisis, there are political questions being raised. raising questions once again about barack obama's strength and judgment as commander in chief as john mccain said, he believes and some republicans believe he is effectless and doesn't have to do with what happens in ukraine and iran and bengha benghazi. they now remind us that he mocked mitt romney in a presidential debate when the republican nom nominee claimed that vladimir putin's russia would be one of the greatest global threats. >> governor romney, i'm glad that you recognize that al qaeda is a threat because a few months ago when you were asked what is the biggest geo political threat facing america is russia. not al qaeda, you said russia. now asking for their foreign policy back because the cold war has been over for 20 years. >> russia indicated is a geo

political foe. >> number one -- >> exhume. excuse me. >> i said iran is the greatest national security threat we face. russia tends to battle us time and time again. i have clear eyes on this. i won't wear rose colored glasses when it comes to putten and say i will give him more flexibility after the election. >> which is exactly what was said. now makes the president look small and ill prepared for the crisis on him. the consensus among foreign policy analysts, it just is, is that the diplomatic -- believe that vladimir putin nor any other world leaders on the stage fear barack obama enough to alter bad behavior. the failed policy in russia need to remember three things. first, it was george w. bush who claimed to have look in putin's

eyes and seen the goodness of his soul, remember that? second the bush administration in tharg that did very little to stop putin from invading georgia in 2008 to support break-away factions to break away thin and third remains a quaint notion that some of us hold closely to in our hearts and describes the shabby behavior the past quarter century it should end at the water's edge in time of crises. this is a time of great crisis, steve. what can we do, other than calling the president factless and attacking the president? i share a lot of the same concerns that john mccain shares with barack obama's foreign policy but i don't think that gets us anywhere right now and vladimir putin already believes barack obama is weak to undercut him in this military crisis. what can we do to make it hurt for vladimir putin?

>> i think you're right to separate the issues and debate obama's handling of foreign policy and whether he contribute to this or not but we have seen this movie before as you pointed out. we saw it in georgia and under reagan in poland in 1981 when they crushed the slol daolidari movement. remember that the crimea is 59% russian. they have a major base there. they gave it to the ukraine in 1954 as part of the sort of rearrangement of the koestsovie union. we have sanctions we could put in place and limit the number of visas. russia is a major energy producer and major oil exporter and much of europe's gas and a lot of economic dependence on the part of europe in russia. i think the option are going to be limited. i'm all in favor of kicking him out of the g-8 and not going to sochi and limiting the visas and

i hope contain what they are doing what they are doing in crimea but i think kidding ourselves that they are going to march out. it's not going to happen. >> how seriously is the white house taking this? do they think this is bluster or do they think this is vladimir putin pushing the boundaried with the west? >> they do not think it's bluster. thousands of russian forces are in crimea. one of the things the administration is watching closely is do those forces go into other parts of ukraine? there are big russian speaking populations in eastern ukraine. does putin try to contain his activities to crimea or move elsewhere? the biggest option on the table from the white house is sanctions. this would be to top russian officials that are involved in this advance into ukraine. but when you talk about sanctions, you also have to look at europe and see what europe is going to do on sanctions, what europe is going to do with their

economic relationship with russia. the u.s. has a significant economic relationship with russia but it pales in relationship to the relationship europe has. we have already heard officials in germany wavering a bit on what they are willing to do. when you have the biggest european economic power saying maybe we are not sure what we are going to do, that raises a lot of questions how effective any action from the u.s. will be. >> gene, there seems to be -- not seems to be. there is apparently a rising level of hysteria among political people, specifically republicans, towards what is happening in the ukraine and president obama's action or in the republican's views, his inaction. i think it's probably led by lindsey graham's eye rolling comments that he made over the weekend. what is it about so many republicans seemingly, and some democrats, who can't take just a second to view this crisis through the eyes of something

other than people running for re-election in this country this year? >> i have no idea because they criticize but there is no second sentence like, what would you do? what is your idea for dislodging of vladimir putin's troops from crimea? the answer is they wouldn't do anything! i mean, there is not a way to dislodge the russians. the europeans are not interested in applying sanctions that would hurt because of the economic relationship. europe gets so much of its natural gas from russia and no constituency in europe for a new cold war. they have lived three that and don't want to live through that again. it's not that there aren't a lot of options. there really aren't any viable options right now and somebody like lindsey graham knows certainly enough about foreign policy to be perfectly aware of

that. as joe said, this is an instance of which we could end this sort of bickering at the border and present at least a unified condemnation what have putin is doing and try to find jointly some way forward with the realistic expectation that, look. if he wants crimea, he is going to keep crimea. that just a fact. >> it's a lot like what china does with north korea, what china does with north korea, what china does with north korea. i do want to say, though, as far as the idea, mike, that politics ends at the water's edge, we have such a long history. >> it's gone. >> of it that is gone. i remember in 2005, harry reid calling -- speaking of vladimir putin calling george w. bush a loser and a liar in the middle of a trip to russia.

both sides have just got to calm down. and spell now when you're facing somebody like putin. we need to come together and, yes, we republicans have a lot of problems with his foreign policy but now is not the time to be acting like harry reid and calling somebody a loser or a liar or calling him factless when we are in the middle of a crisis. >> it's been gone quite sometime. there is a warks i wouy. steve, the state of russia's economy right now, how would you do? first of all, is it strong, weak? what is it? russia's economy is heavily dependent on major resources and main exporter of oil and gas. the economy is not that strong. i think trade sanctions are trying to isolate russia economically in the world would have some effect. they won't apply to ukraine. we are trying to get them to freeze in place and call it a

draw and move on to something else. i do think they can have an effect. >> we will talk more about this this morning. i want to fill in more of the blanks charter school this morning in new york. last week he was called a school bully by "the "new york post."" the mayor is facing pushback to block three charters schools. they were approved for free space by former mayor mike bloomberg. now launching a ad to put pressure on the new mayor. >> i vote for mayor de blasio because he talked about looking out for the have not's. >> mayor bill de blasio talked about the tale of two cities but wants to take away options from the two communities that need it the most. >> my daughter would have a better opportunity an a charter school. >> despite the success of charter schools, the mayor wants to stop them from opening and expanding taking great school

from new york city kids. >> my kids deserve a choice and a chance to succeed. >> he told business leaders at a private meeting he would support legislation to give extra money to charter schools that had been kicked out of public facilities by the mayor. de blasio was an outspoken opponent of the charter programs when he was running for mayor. he frequently criticized former councilwoman who runs nonprofit group in charge of three schools in question. he said last year she has to stop be tolerated and enabled and supported. he said no way in hell that eva moskowitz should get free rent. >> there is some schools shut down and some classes are doing better than some of the scardale comparison they talk about and the dream is get harlem at least up on course, on par with that. that is happening right now.

this is so personal for him. it's such a petty attack because he promised the teachers unions, elect me and i'm going to destroy these schools that up in harlem and other places that have some of the best success stories in new york. >> i agree with that. look. i think it's a slightly broader issue. a deep philosophical question here of whether all kids should be educated together and the kids are not as capable to benefit from being in classrooms with the more capable. and the whole concept of public education being everyone together, versus what a lot of people, frankly in the business community have led the idea that you shouldn't have a monopoly. the schools should compete like any other business and you'll get a better result out of that and getting them out from under the teachers union will get a result. that is the battle fought here not just -- >> but it's not that much of an

ideological battle. most progressives believe like most conservatives that we should do whatever we can do to help poor children of color that are trapped in these horrible school systems. it is hard to find somebody around this table, and mainly democrats around this table, that don't support what is going on up in harlem with these charter sools schools. it is hard to find that person unless they are directly related to the teachers union. that is what cuomo is doing here. i think it's a very smart move, a very smart move. i'll go back and say this was a discussion of "vanity fair" party a well-known celebrity who says the mayor wants me to work on his pre-k team. i think giving kids, you know, opportunity through pre-k is a great idea and i'd support it, but not just so we trap them in bad schools starting in

kindergarten. he said i'm not going to help him do that. if he going to be using crass politics to pay back some teacher unions to stop the poorest and most needy kids from getting a chance to go in schools where they actually reward success and punish failure and administrators. >> charter schools are about something that 99% of public school parents don't have. charter schools are about choice. choice means competition. competition means that everyone has to bring it up a notch in order to compete. too much of the argument against charter schools focuses, unfortunately, on the teachers union. the teachers union is certainly to blame for some of this. but the reason, the biggest reason the charter schools work, if you've been in them, if you go to them and focus on them, is that the parents fight to get their kids in the charter schools. if a lot of parents had the time or the ability to fight to make

their public schools a little bit better, the public schools would be a bit better but charter schools are a terrific -- >> charter schools just, quite frankly, give freedom to educators that you don't have and the public schools and principals and to administrators and success is rewarded and failure is punished. we don't do that in our public schools. willie, that's why we spend more money in this country per pupil than any country in the world and our public schools continue to stuvemble. >> what is interesting about this is the mantle of the charter schools we are talking about here that were getting free rent approved by mayor bloomberg are being left intact. a small group run by eva moskowitz. >> we are 22 after and continue this conversation later in the hour. we need to go to break right now. >> eva will be on the show tomorrow morning to talk about

this. john mccain will join us talk about the crisis in ukraine. also joining us is former ambassador michael mcfaul and bill kristo lp and also russell simmons. >> one of the coldest mornings of the winter. first week of march. we just set a record. go step outside in baltimore. i can promise that you've never felt a temperature this cold in the month of march before. we just set an all new record low in baltimore at 4 degrees. you've never been that cold in march. it's not quite as bad in new york and also philadelphia but we are at 4 in hartford and 1 in albany. this is what it looked like in fall before the snow fell and what it looked like yesterday. covered in snow. all of the great lakes with an exception of the portion of lake michigan. right now, they are 86% ice covered in march. we have never had this much ice

before in the month of march. the record is 94%. we are not that far away from that and that usually happens in january or february. also freezing rain outside of houston and south texas is in the mix of this. the good news this is the peak of the cold and slowly warm up toward the weekend but slowly. not even a quick warm-up which is what we all need. you're watching "morning joe." we will be right back. [ male announcer ] this is karen and jeremiah. they don't know it yet, but they're gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, they'll find some financial folks who will talk to them about preparing early for retirement

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morning papers. "usa today" day two of the murder trial for olympian oscar pistorious under way in south africa. a somber pistorious entered his not guilty plea yesterday for the murder of his girlfriend

reeva steinkamp. >> do you understand the charges, mr. pistorious? >> i do, my lady. >> how do you plead in. >> not guilty, my lady. >> dramatic testimony from a neighbor outlining the terrifying moments just moments before the shooting. >> just before the gunshots, it was blood-curdling. it was something that leaves you cold. it's something you can't portray in the court. you can't explain it, you just know that a woman's life was really threatened. >> pistorious said it was a tragic accident. he said he thought steinkamp was an intruder. from the parade of papers. los angeles times. army studies raising questions how the military screens recruits. new data shows nearly 1 in 5 soldiers had a common mental illness such as adhd, panic disorder or depression before enlisting. 8% of soldiers contemplated suicide before joining the army. the herald ledger.

two classic corvettes swallowed by a sinkhole in a museum kentucky will be back on display. >> that's not good. >> did you see this video? incredible. crews used a crane to pull them from a 30-foot sinkhole that swallowed them up last month. amazingly only minor damage to this blue corvette. the second car out would was a 1993 ruby corvette. it needs new windows and body panels but they can save it. six cars remain in the hole. new york daily news. a man who delivered pizza at the oscars walked away with a big tip. ellen degeneres gave him a thousand dollar tip. he said he had no idea he would wind up on tv. he also says the exposure has boosted his business. >> they said he thought he was delivering to the writer's room and ellen walks in and drags him on stage. >> she was really good. >> she did a good job. >> if you haven't had breakfast

yet you may want to head to ihop. they are giving out on free short stacks today in honor of national pancake day! keep the kids home from school! the deal runs between 7:00 and 10:00 a.m. customers are limited, though, to one stack and asked to give a donation. ihop has raised nearly $13 million for local charities since it created the holiday in 2006. >> that is america. >> that's america. with us now the chief white house correspondent for polit o politico, another great american, mike allen with a look at the playbook. how are you doing? >> you're getting me hungry. >> fantastic. a lot going on. >> what is going on? >> you guys have a piece up there talking about the ongoing kr crisis in ukraine and posing perhaps a problem for hillary clinton if she decides to run for president in 2016. explain the connection there. >> willie, senator clinton,

secretary clinton was the face of the reset. you guys will remember. we saw this on "morning joe" back in 2009 in her second month in office. she was in moscow at one of her first trips and she presented the russian foreign minister with an actual gift wrapped red reset button. this is just an example as maggie haberman points out. she has to answer questions about the health care and economy and about the nsa. secretary clinton has been so quiet. her advisers think, oh, she doesn't have to jump out and make a statement about everything. but, willie, as we can see here on the show, this is no passing issue. her book is out soon and she will be doing some midterm campaigning. so politico sees increasing pressure on secretary clinton to talk about some of these issues. some people will say she is a little bit out of the loop on some of these decisions. it's not going a defense she is going to use. her plan is to stick with

president obama, but it makes it hard for her to charter her own course as she heads out on this campaign. we have seen ian senator john mccain who you know is very supportive of her in the past and joked about her and said she was totally wrong about this. >> julie, this shows the long march to entering the race for hillary clinton, the longer this drags out, the more hits she is going to take. whatever issue of the day comes up, it's a link somehow to hillary clinton. >> absolutely. especially if it's something that happened on foreign policy when she was secretary of state. i mean, that red reset button moment we are going to see played over and over again. i actually am interested to hear from her on what she was thinking at that time and whether she thinks that was the right policy given what we have seen now. >> and gene robinson, there are going to be a lot of issues that she is going to be exposed on if she runs moving forward and a lot of people think she is going to march to the nomination. hillary has been in support of

military intervention as much as anybody, along with say let's say john mccain. she comes from the john mccain camp. i wonder if democrats will be really thrilled about nominating an neocon in 2016? >> she gets it from both sides essentially but she is no shr k shrinking violet and she will get it from the progressive wing of the democratic party and also from republicans who say she is not tough enough and wanted to reset with russia. this is the problem with having a record in washington. so if you want to be elected president, don't have a record, i think, these days, because it's just going to follow you around. you're being criticized on it. >> politico's mike allen with a look at the playbook. thanks. >> have a great national pancake day. >> we will. we are going to get some short stacks after the show. dr. emanuel is standing by in the green room with a look at his new book. first, a career might for

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let's start in miami with lebron james who was in charlotte last night.

his mask went to clear plastic rather than black with nudge from the nba. he had 61 points last night. the second highest scoring this season. carmelo anthony scored 62 against the bobcats. here is lebron after the game. >> i just had it going. you know? shot a lot but when you get to a zone, you know, i threw one up there from 33 and i just kind of tried to keep the same routine. but like i said once you get to a zone you feel you can shoot the ball into the ocean. >> 61 points for lebron last night. college hoops. a thriller in chapel hill. north carolina is playing on some ball over the past couple of months. heels the lead over notre dame. notre dame had a chance to tie. down two in the closing seconds. but emphatic block at the buzzer. how about a buzzer beating

block? that seals the win for carolina. 63-61. they have won 12 in a row in the acc. next one a regional title game between rippon and la coneia in wisconsin. >> a cold wisconsin night for two hours in that town, they forget all of their problems. >> ripon is trailing by two points in the game's final seconds. how about the buzzer-beater? the three-pointer is good for the victory. storm the court time. you just don't walk into la coneia on a monday night. >> unless you expect something

like that to happen. >> come with your hard hat and your lunch pail. >> exactly, baby. on a monday night. woo. >> the dud on a saturday night. >> anything can happen. look. it did. >> it did. that is the thing about sports, joe. >> did you get all of the cli e cliches out? it is spring training time. instant replay. toronto manager john gibbons challenged a play after an umpire called a minnesota base runner safe. after review, showed the ump made the right call. the expanded instant replay was used three times yesterday and in each case the umpire's calls were upheld. do you like the replay, mike barnicle, as a purist? >> it took too long. >> the game is too long. >> you need a guy upstairs to get it right.

>> we should at some point show the picture of joe "willie" namath and derek jeter. >> he was left off the guest list for the "vanity fair" party but his rather shared it instead. we will speak with dr. zeke emanuel up next. don't go away. we will be right back.

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♪ let's bring in now former white house adviser for health policy for global initiatives at the university of pennsylvania, dr. ezekiel emanuel.

he is the author of this "reinventing american health care. >>." i wanted an 18th century title. >> you got it. >> sell books, right? >> now we know why his brother is the one in hollywood. >> yes. we make fun of you not being at the "vanity fair" party but he was at the new england journal of medicine party. >> alone. the only person. >> so, z, what are you diagnosising in this book? are you laying out the problems, first? if so, how are we doing the last couple of years addressing them? >> i think health care is doing well and a lot of people are nervous because a lot of change.

we have had reduced readmissions so quality is going up in many ways. i think we are really focusing on more value for patients. so i'm an optimist about the system. tend of the book i have six megatrends for the future. one of which i think health care inflation is going to go down to growth in the gdp by the end of the decade. >> why do you think we are doing better now and when did it begin? >> well, some of the health care inflation began before with the recession. no doubt about it. some of it was structural changes before. some of it is the affordable care act and it has changed i think the psychology in health care that we have to get serious about controlling costs and doing better for people by controlling costs. one of the places that we really are going to see a big difference is intention to people with chronic illness. those are the people who use the health care system and the best places now are focusing on that predicting who they are and giving them a lot of services. i refer to it vip care with people with chronic and mental illness is the wave of the

future. >> gene? >> last time you and i talked about the affordable care act, you said president obama should have appointed a ceo to roll out the program and make sure that would function the way it should. is that still a valid criticism and still your criticism and how do you think things are going now? >> it's not a criticism. back in 2010 when we had passed the legislation and i was still in the white house, it was a suggestion. look. the website and the exchanges are really an e-commerce business and need to be run like e-commerce business and need to have a ceo, they need to have a staff that is really focused every day on how do we get the best product out there and how do we get the best news or experience. i think that is still vitally important. i haven't changed my view on that at all. and i do think we need to understand this is really like amazon and like lots of other sites that are selling goods and

products. so i think that is a very important thing. if you look at the successes, like connecticut, like california, they do have this ceo person who has experience in the health insurance marketplace and has a very good staff to help them run it. so, you know, i still think management is important and execution is important. >> steve rattner? i'm sorry, julie. go ahead. >> zeke, administration officials say they are considering expanding and extending the division to let the people stay on the subpar plans that were supposed to be cancelled. politics involved in this but from a health policy standpoint, doesn't extending the subpar plans even longer go against the nature of this law which was supposed to not only cover more people but give people more higher quality coverage? >> this is the balancing act of transitioning people over and making it as smooth as possible, while trying to get everyone good coverage that isn't, as you

say, the subpar plans that really don't cover people and give them a false sense of security. i think that transition ought to go faster. the important thing is to get the transition and to make sure that people are switched over and really do have protection when, god forbid, they get some serious illness or get in an accident and need the health care system. the subpar plans are $3,000 to $5,000 of coverage don't cover anything serious, a simple operation like an appenditis will blow through it. >> i agree with everything you said. >> now i will doubt myself. >> thanks a lot. that's a compliment to me. aren't we still tip toeing around a huge kind of moral issue here which is how we deal with care at the end of life and how we deal with certain kinds

of treatments cost a huge amount of money but we as a society aren't willing to say no? in the original bill counseling toward the ends of life and aren't we have to get to the tough moral issue who gets care and under what circumstances? >> i don't think we need to get to the rationing issue. about end of life, i think a lot of people have a misconception we are spending 40% to 50% on the health care dollars on end of life care. it's really 10% of dollars go to end of life care. in my opinion, i've said we need to focus on improving the quality there. we really need to focus on getting people the care and getting the care that they want. there are 40% of hospitals in america that don't have those care services even in the hospital or when you send a patient home. that should be our focus and then people will feel a lot more comfortable with knowing that they can go home and be with their family and get high quality care. right now, that's not really available. i do think focusing on talking

about end of life care with patients is going to be important. by the way, that provision was an idea. it never was written down in the bill. we were talking about how we might improve it in a way that gave people a choice. what did you say? >> backtrack? >> i'm not backtracking. >> remember when he came to us? he had a great idea. >> yeah. >> death panel. >> now you're trying to backtrack. >> you and my friend sarah palin, dr. death here. >> i'm sorry. i talked to sarah palin. she says she is no friend of yours. backtracking continues. it makes me sad. >> it's sad. we have tapes to show it. we don't have tapes to show anything. >> i erased that, right? >> as a physical, the wisdom of your brother jumping into 32-degree lake michigan yesterday. >> i called him right after. i said i don't know how he can do it, man! but the one thing i've learned about rahm and true when he was a young kid. tough in the cold.

he never wore gloves when he was a little kid. snowball fights with no gloves. are you nuts? rahm could always endure the cold like no one else. i was just shocked. >> there is jimmy fallon running in a suit and tie. >> who is more crazy? >> wow. incredible. dr. zeke emanuel, thanks. book is "reinvent iing american health care." hip-hop mogul russell simmons will join us in a few minutes. we will be right back with more "morning joe." ♪ i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. for over 18 years we've helped people take care of the things that matter most. join today at angieslist.com and his new boss told him two things -- cook what you love, and save your money.

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♪ coming up on "morning joe," we are going to discussing a lot of things, including death panels. >> why would you revisit that? why would he bring that up again? >> we joke, of course, because we love -- we are going to be talking about president obama's next move in ukraine. bill kristol and financial times gillian tet are here to discuss coming up on "morning joe." [announcer] welcome to the all-new intuit quickbooks.

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♪ no offense to our mayor. our mayor is a great guy. he is an excellent mayor but this is eric garcetti. supporters at a picnic of some kind. there is you. there is eric garcetti holding someone's baby. there is rob ford holding someone's baby! there is eric garcetti enjoying a baseball game. there is rob ford enjoying a sporting event.

you are sweating a lot. let me get you some tissues here. >> no, we are good. good. >> do you mind if i dab you, mr. mayor? i'm auctioning this off on ebay afterwards. actually, i'll take a dna on this tissue and have a whole army of you here in l.a. >> wow. >> what do you think of that? >> i don't know. dabbing his face. wow. welcome back to "morning joe." great to have you back with us on the coldest march, i think, since 1473. with us at the table is assistant editor for the financial times gillian tett and bill kristol and jeffrey goldberg. let's start with ukraine. >> there is no sign of agreement or easing over russian's invasion of crimea. earlier putin spoke to reporters

calling the ouster of ukraine's president a military coup saying the people should be able to choose their future on what he called a level playing field. he added no need to use military force in crimea for now, but he does reserve the option to do so. even so, the u.s. ended all or suspended military relations with the kremlin and suspending trade talks and congress is drafting own sanctions. initial efforts that 6,000 troops in the peninsula ballooned to 16,000 and all intents and purposes the troops control that area. ukraine's navy sang together in defiance and their ships are blocked. russia ordered the crews reportedly to surrender or to be boarded. they are concerned not just in crimea but in the east where protests have turned deadly. 11 cities have seen pro russian protests and in some participants have stormed buildings there. little appetite in the u.s. or europe to get involved militarily at this point. a growing rift over what posture the united states should take.

>> what should not be done is for russia with impunity to put its soldiers on the ground and violate basic principles that are recognized around the world. and i think the strong condemnation that it's received from countries around the world indicates the degree of which russia is on the wrong side of history on this. >> we can exit out economic sanctions. there is a broad array of options that we have. why do we care? because this is the ultimate result of a feckless foreign policy where nobody believes in america's strength any more. >> we can debate whether this president has been, quote, feckless or not in the words of john mccain but no president is going to send troops to ukraine any more we send them to georgia in twat2008 and in afghanistan

2009, what can we do? >> georgia and ukraine, the two countries at which nato stopped its expansion, did not move ahead with the plan. it reminds us real security guarantees matter. putin hasn't invaded us and have russian minorities and as much of ukraine in some ways. i think it reminds us that hard power matters. there is a lot one can do with economic sanctions and other things and putin needs to pay a price for this and at home. the russian people and especially russian elites close to him need to feel, yikes he has endangered our bank accounts abroad, our ability to travel abroad, our hopes to get even richer off putin's kind of crony version of corporatism and so forth. >> that is "the new york times"

headlines top sanctions faced from russian. >> a great column today, a columnist pointing out this is not the cold war because suddenly you have all of these russians. never mind putin. you have all of these russians who basically have a huge amount of assets in the west. if they were suddenly to wake up tomorrow and discovery they cannot go on holiday overseas any more and not have their bank accounts in cyprus or london or anywhere else their assets will be frozen or run chaels chelsea. if the west could actually get its act together and coordinate could be used effectively indeed. >> how far do you expect putin is willing to push this? he has gone 16,000 troops at this point. when will the united states and west do something forceful than what they have done so far? >> i think what the west is willing to do.

if the west called a huge meeting of the nato alliance and all of the president and prime ministers gathered in warsaw in the next week or two a signal of a renewed alliance and he would take that seriously. the opposite of what gillian said is also true. have you a financial system in london and elsewhere that is pretty dependent on all this russian cash. so precisely the same reasons russians would be heard if cut off from the financial system the financial system would be heard by being cut off from so much of this russian money. it doesn't seem to me likely there is a huge move to vacuum out all of the russian money floating into the international markets. >> i think certainly not be a huge move at the moment but there could be talkative measures. one of the ironies what is happening because of a russian leader put so much of their money in the west, while one

would presume the western intelligence services, no word is. >> you look at the markets right now. russians playing the markets right now. i want to go back to something i talked about the first hour. a notion at one point that politics ended at the water's edge. of course, conservatives chafed 2005 and george w. bush was over in russia and harry reid called him a liar and a loser and i think for good reason. we have john mccain now calling the president feckless in the middle of an international crisis. one, what should the conservative tone be at this point of time when all americans are against what vladimir putin is doing and they want to see a strong united country, and, two, what could the president have done to stop putin from going into ukraine any more than bush could stop him going into georgia? >> i think georgia was the

beginning actually of this. it was exhaustive bush administration in september of 2008. obama and hillary clinton attacked john mccain for sugaring war robust response in georgia. russia has kept a big percentage of georgia ever since. putin threatens to do even more we are relieved he only keeps 20% could be the current situation putin is threatening to go into eastern ukraine and stops crimea eneveryone has a sigh of relief the sanctions are announced and he ends up being successful and he doesn't push his luck too or maybe he will push his luck too far. if you look at what rubio and cantor said in the house. that was a centerpiece of the obama administration foreign policy. i remember going to munich in 2009. there was a conference. vice president biden made part of his speech was to reset with

russia. i think some of us are critical of that and can we acknowledge it was a mistake and failed? we want to support the president if he acts aggressively on sanctions. if he does research nato responsibilities and bonds. if he does a bunch of other things. i don't think the republicans -- i think they will be willing to support the president as they supported him on the afghan surge and they have supported him in other areas at least for a while he seemed to step up to the challenges. >> let's say the president gets very aggressive and works with allies in the west. is he going to have trouble moving some european governments along with him? >> certainly, there is concern right now but needlessly provoking russia beyond the point at the moment and the europeans understand a lot of wounded prime and humiliation going on there. i can understand that because i, myself, spent several years in the former soviet union and there after as well. in the sense of downfall and the loss of empire on the part of the russians is so profound.

but perhaps key to understand is right now the europeans are terrified about the issue of energy and gas. in some ways this is a very good wake-up call for the europeans because it has respectminded th they need to get less dependent on russia. at the same time a blow to london as a financial center but also the germans and others say what about gas supplies? >> liberalize the export of oil and gas from mere and i think people are sort of in some ways underestimating this. ukraine, when the soviet union broke off ukraine had a thousand military weapons. ukraine agreed in a discussion with russia, the uk and u.s. to give those weapons up. they voluntarily denuclearized and that was the budapest agreement. part of that was a statement ukraine's territorial sovereignty would be respected

by oourussia. that was a deal to induce them into sort of reassure them when they gave up nuclear weapons. if they can invade a country with them what signal does it send around the world? it the signal is not only give up your nuclear weapons but build them and everything else is talk. it's a horrible message to let get out in europe itself and in eastern europe and especially elsewhere like the middle east. >> jeffrey, did you want to get in? >> if you're sitting in saudi arabia or the united arab emirates i think we might need the ultimate to return as well. a, we have a hostile large neighbor to our north, iran and we also see very clearly that armies roll into countries and nobody does anything about it. more broadly we are all kind of kidding ourselves when we think

this is not a fait accompli. it is. putin will leave crimea when he thinks he needs to leave there. nothing the west will be able to do to get him out of there. he is a russian nationalist and he has done this effectively and outfoxed everyone. not easily reversible and i think we are kidding ourselves when we talk about the impact of sanctions. >> the key turning point was not last week but back in georgia in 2008 where tweveneffectively yo the pattern 20 years the russian intelligence services provoke some kind of reason to go in some kind of civil disturbance and next thing you know you have creeping troops going in and we are seeing the same book play out again here. >> not to countries with the nato alliance. a lot of people here and in europe, which i supported the administration on that and example bipartisanship i think has worked and they are not going into latvia or the nations

of eastern europe that were admitted to nato and i think expansion. you need the hard power behind the soft power. in that respect they had sort of a deal with ukraine and georgia and not a solid security guarantee. turns out security guarantees matter a lot till in this 21st century world. >> jeffrey, if, in fact, sanctions are symbolic and putin is going to do what he wants to do here and if he decides he wants to take crimea he will take it and what stops him from going forward there and moving elsewhere where he says russians are threatened by governments? would he take another step beyond crimea? >> yes. i don't see -- there is nothing in the response of the united states or europe or anyone else has suggested to him that anyone would stop him from rolling forward. and he just has to calculate. a short-term economic damage there could be some economic damage obviously, but russia is not iran and is not quite as susceptible to sanctions. there is that.

seriously. i mean, you have to bring into this conversation -- i'm not endorsing or denying this -- but it's there. the idea that last year, in syria, we said europe has said, you know, you can't use chemical weapons. he worked with russia to get rid of the chemical weapons. we saw this in horrors like this. so putin looks at the west and i think he sees it as weak and certainly not willing to put its money where his mouth is. i don't see a chem number of barriers to a decision. if you were like -- say, you have these pockets of russian ethnic pockets all over the borders of russia. if you're in muldovia, you think

we might be next. this is his move. he is post-sochi and post-olympics. he might say, all right i'm going to get criticized for a while but nobody is going to stop me if i move forward in ukraine or elsewhere. >> that really is it. you look at his clients states. that is the message of what has happened in syria the past several years. we draw lines in the sand and one line after another gets crossed over. the same thing has happened in iran. i still have an old sort of statered "wall street journal" editorial criticizing the reagan administration to step over one line drawn in the sand after another. there, the "wall street journal" was attacking the bush administration for drawing lines in the sand and then having the iranians, you know, walk over them. we have been feckless towards iran and syria and sent a really strong message to putin. >> i very much agree with that. i think syria, for all of the

debate here about whether it was wise to draw the red line in the first place or to send troops -- >> it was drawn. >> it was drawn. >> it was drawn. >> toss talking to people around the world -- >> we had this debate around the table and people say, come on. you know what? people like vladimir putin take note when you draw a line in the sand and it is crossed. >> the guy used chemical weapons. we are pleading with him to come back to geneva and negotiate. bush in the second term made mistakes in this respect. he had democrats wanting to withdraw from iraq. i think one thing would help if americans in government especially didn't say we can't do anything militarily. the troops, that would be out of the question. if americans said all options are on the table and we have a lot of military assets and include troops on the ground and covert things and putin and

russia will pay a price for this as military will pay a price for this. wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to say. we are too quick to claim our own helplessness and i'm not as fat fatalistic as jeffrey. i think the europeans would follow. i don't think to lead but we could make life miserable for putin in an awful lot of ways. >> there has to be a way also to have a face saving solution and some way for putin to back out of this. >> you want him to be humiliated. needs to be -- at home. >> if you humiliate him today you're basically going to be cutting off the head and you will not suddenly be translating. >> really? is that what costborough thinks? >> unfortunately, he is not sitting in moscow at the moment. unfortunately, the west needs to recognize that putin reflects a streak of wounded nationalism inside russia today and the idea

that you can simply crush this easily. >> >> you can respect -- i believe it emboldens it. it has to be shown to russia this does not play and a lot of people in the society wants us to be strong. you really disagree we need a face saving way out? >> jeffrey, let me bring you in. >> it makes me nervous. no offense, gillian. you talk about giving in -- these feelings aren't legitimate and not helpful. i don't worry about his humiliati humiliation. i worry about his acttions. i mean, that said. let me go to bill's point. i'm fatalistic, russia ask a nuclear power and not a lot we can do. we have shown we can't do much with miniature russia's, iran and syria. so i guess i am a bit more fatalistic. let me just come back to one other point which is now that

i've sort of raised the feckless issue in syria. there is also very good reasons not to engage militarily in syria. very good reasons not to go down the path of military intervention in iran. second and third order effect for a country like ours that is tired of war and we can at all about a trope. >> jeffrey, we have been very critical of afghanistan. the president tripling the number of troops in afghanistan. we have to have a commander in chief who said assad must go and cross red lines in the sand and does nothing about it. then his people justify this action and none of us realize what kind of signal this sends to vladimir putin who has decided after looking at the united states of america over the past five, six, seven years, even before barack obama, that he can get away with this, that he can -- >> here is the key question. here is the key question. to me is if vladimir putin -- is

there a direct link between what happened in syria last august and september and what happened now? my guess is considering what he did in georgia well before the syria crisis, my guess is that vladimir putin was eyeing crimea all along. i don't think we have helped. >> but, wait. the question is, though -- >> was the toppling of the. he lost in ukraine thanks to what? thanks to an actual genuine popular uprising which we have supported rhetorically and maybe do more to support. i guess secretary kerry is there to try to show support. putin is scared of democracy on his borders. >> the question -- >> using his assets. >> jeffrey, would putin have made this move, say, in 2004, 2005 with george w. bush president in 2004 and 2005? would he believe he could move with impunity the way he did against bush?

>> it's not a -- >> hold on. i got to clear this up for everybody else so this isn't a bush versus obama deal. george bush was exhausted in 2008 and putin made the calculated move that after seven years of war, he wasn't going to step on the gas and get involved in something like that. jeffrey, the question i'm asking. >> let me answer it by analogy. in 2003, when the u.s. invaded iraq, the iranians froze their nuclear program because they thought they were next. 2004 and five they saw america get bogged down in iraq because of terrible planning, among other things, and decided to restart and walked away from the nuclear negotiations. there is a demonstration effect we are talking about and right now, if you're a putin or you're a an assad, you do say, look, america is exhausted and it's tired. it wasn't great timing to announce we are cutting the size of our army, obviously, in

retrospect the last couple of weeks. i'm not saying i'm for or against that but saying the timing was not impeccable. >> let's get this straight. goldberg wants us to triple the number of troops, armed forces. zeke emanuel is talking death manuals. willie, what is going on? >> 2008 all over again. >> i don't think i said triple. >> i'm one for trippling. jeffrey hedged. could be a good idea. he doesn't want to go too far. >> i'm sorry, i'm just very moderate, bill. >> that's right. >> jeffrey goldberg, thanks so much. >> thanks, jeffrey. >> good conversation. coming up next on "morning joe," senator john mccain joins us live. later, the zen of russell simmons. he is here to explain the surprising secret behind his success. you're watching "morning joe." we will be right back.

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welcome back to "morning joe." john kerry has just landed in kiev. obviously, the secretary of state getting on the ground and trying do what he can along with the government to have a response. let's -- he is there to show the support for the new government and let's bring in right now from california, former u.s. ambassador to russia, mike mcfaul and white house nbc chief correspondent and host of "the daily rundown, chuck todd. >> it's willie good night, ambassador. thank you for joining us so early this morning. >> sure. >> few people are familiar with the situation in russia from the american point of view as you are. if you could a thumbnail what exactly are we seeing here and how concerned should people watching in the united states be? >> i just listened to your previous segment and i think the way that you were describing or bill kristol was describing putin is the way i would

describe him, that what he did in crimea was an emotional reaction to his being extreme disappointed with the fall of the government, the fall of president yanukovych a few weeks before. they are mad as hell at us but also to president yanukovych as you felt that in the putin press conference today. this was his mmimmediately response but i don't know where he knows where to go next. i listened to his press conference an hour ago. i think he is not sure what the end game is so gives a chance for people like secretary kerry to try to figure out a diplomatic solution to restore ukraine's territorial integrity. >> ambassador, usually, americans look at situations like this through our eyes naturally and not through the view of the united states how is it going to impact us. i am asking you, given your knowledge of vladimir putin, do you suspect that vladimir putin thinks the president of the

united states is feckless and that the united states is weak or exhausted when it comes to situations like this? >> putin thinks that this is his -- you know, this is his backyard. and this doesn't have anything to do with barack obama as you guys were talking about earlier. he went into georgia with president bush there because he thought that is his sphere of influence. he thinks in those terms. i've dealt with this guy for five years now. i've listened to him speak. he thinks in the 19th century terms but he is also ration national about russia's economic and gives us leverage with him. i want to point out a big difference russia in 2014 and the soviet union when they invaded hungary? 1956. billions of dollars that the russians hold in british bank accounts and billions of dollars joined for joint ventures before the russia state-owned company,

their major oil company and exxon moble exx exxon-mobil. >> we have been talking about this kind of thing happened in georgia and pole land and around the world. is the white house, do they have any strategy for changing that narrative and trying to get obama sort of back up on to the stage as a full-sized president? >> i think part of the problem is this all goes back to the syria, what happened for those ten days on syria. they know it. the president himself privately talks about it. i think he has even said it publicly he'll use phrases like the white house doesn't get any style points for how the syria issue was handled publicly. and i think that that is the prism many are judging him on

this. i want to go to ambassador mcfaul on a question. the exit ramps. kennedy famously supposedly said during the cuban missile crisis he wanted to give them a few exit ramps before escalating things even further. what are the exit ramps in the next week that the united states or that the world community could offer putin that he might actually take to sort of deescalate? >> so i want to be clear. as professor mcfaul, i'm not optimistic they will leave crimea but five days a recovering diplomat i think we have to use whatever windows are open to give him those options. >> why we have you on the team. >> in his press conference today, he said the government today in ukraine is illegitimate is what he said. it was a revolution is what he said. so could we put together a path forward working with our allies

in kiev who, by the way, in my view, have been very constrained so far to put together a new more legitimate government? based on the existing constitution, new elections, let yanukovych come back and run in some way. he, of course, would not win. that, i think is the wiggle room that putin was hinting out just an hour ago. >> >> chuck, is this story going to dominate what the president does took at the white house? >> it continues to do that but today is budget day, joe. it's amazing the stories that have gone to the back burner. you know that whole process that is barely getting a blip of attention. who knew the easiest foreign policy challenge the president would be dealing with this week would be the middle east peace process? forget syria and ukraine and things like that but today is budget day here. they are unveiling the budget and they already know the big number so now it's negotiating exactly how much each agency gets so it's -- usually it's not going to be the type of budget wars we have been used to.

>> thank god for that. thank you, chuck. greatly appreciate it. ambassador, really good to have you with us as well. chuck, we will see you at 9:00 a.m. on "the daily rundown." coming up, russell simmons is here. we will be right back with him on "morning joe." ♪ this body made two amazing little human beings -- i love this body and what it's capable of.

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welcome back to "morning joe." you know who is going to get it going? hip-hop mogul entrepreneur ruffle simmons is out with a new book "success through stillness meditation made simply." you've already been preaching to us during the commercial break. >> big mouth need to meditate. >> i said i'm teaching to oprah and ellen and lots of people. people who have big voices. i want the world to meditate. we have hundreds of thousands of kids meditating through the david lynch -- >> what do you want them to do? >> it does so much for the brain and it makes you more compassionate, happy person. we all want to be happy and meditation is a very good tool.

it promotes happiness and focus. >> what has it done for you? you're a mogul. you answer to everything. yet, you stop every day and you meditate. >> twice a day. >> does it make you more effective at everything you do? >> i think -- absolutely. i mean, there's so much research. the book is only a hundred and some odd pages and how to meditate. >> by the way, it's easy to read. >> my daughter who is 11 and goes to school for the gifted and said, daddy, you wrote the book like "see cat run." high brow as i can get. i'm sorry, you know? so my 11-year-old said it was like "see cat run." i said, baby, we meditate every day. did you learn anything? she said some of the research was interesting. the left side and right side of your brain separates and starts to separate and meditation brings it back together. >> your kids meditate. tell us about that. >> every morning. i go over to their house. >> how old are they? >> 14 and 11. the 11-year-old is the one who is critical of my writing skill.

>> right. >> they both -- any way. their morning is a great mother and that is the key, that is first. second, the meditation for years, three years since one was 8 she has been a meditator. sits patiently and quietly for 20 minutes and i think you get more expansive brain your nervous system gets stronger and your immune situation gets stronger. it should be in every school. >> you've been doing this since 1990s. how have you able to see the dynamic response you've been able to finance? everything you concentrate on and you do it better? >> i think you don't want to be your nervous system to be compromised by every single thing it can do. you want to watch the world and

make informative decisions. you decide things with meditation you might not decide. people are sheep. they do what they are told. they want to chop up 40 billion animals and eat them and get sick and ruin the environment and destroy, but they want to do all kinds -- we have a lot of unconscious behavior as you're aware, right? and i think that if the world meditated, we could make better decision. i think what the buddhist said, check for your yourself. because if you just listen to television, then you'll have a mind full of fluctuation and noise and that promotes sickness and sadness. if you can have a empty mind or a mind that is a little bit more clear, then your happiness comes. it's that simple. happiness, sick and sadness. >> russell, what brought you all of those years ago to meditation? people associate you with hip-hop and i don't think at least then they would have associated quiet meditation with the world of hip-hop. >> i did yoga first. i went to yoga class in

brentwood. the teacher steve ross played loud rap music all of the time. i went there because of the chicks. all girls and one guy in yoga 20 years ago. >> that is why you get into anything. >> right. >> of course. i went to yoga and i came out of the first class quiet time and came out you're like, wow. >> the girls are really great in there. >> you're searching for stillness. from stillness, everything happens. when the mind is still it was said the whole world unfolds, the universe unfolds. you've been in a basketball game in the world. you can't miss. that is what their brain is aweakened and you're present. you're in the car and everything moves really slow? you're about to hit your head on the windshield? this is the state of consciousness we all looking for. we want to see. when we look at sunset, everything stops. imagine living like that. meditation is a tool to help you to live more like that, awake and present. it's a simple tool. so easy to use.

>> it's 20 minutes out of your day. no physical exertion. you can find time to do it. >> no physical exertion except just to calm down. >> absolutely. >> we got a book. >> you guys can have that. >> we can keep this? >> like i can read this? >> i assume so. >> based on the review from your 11-year-old daughter. >> that's right. i think you could probably get through it. oprah called me and said she liked it. >> that is a big deal. >> that's a big deal! >> all right. >> i need you guys. you guys are good at selling books. >> thank you for coming, man. >> that is it? >> we have to do a commercial and come back. >> can you stay and interview about crimea. >> the book is "on success through stillness." up next, senator john mccain joins us and why he believes president obama's foreign policy has emboldened vladimir putin. we will be back. ♪

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senator john mccain joins us now from capitol hill. senator john kerry has just touched town in kiev. what message does the secretary of state, your former colleague, need to send to vladimir putin from kiev? >> well, that we will immediately do everything we can to assist ukraine to recover its economy. it's on the brink of collapse, and we will continue to argue that ukraine, that crimea is a part of ukraine. after all the russians signed an agreement in 1994 in exchange for ukraine nuclear capabilities to respect the sovereign territory of crimea as part of ukraine' and that we will do everything in our power to try to prevent now putin from encroaching on eastern ukraine, which is questionable as to how much trouble he will stir up there. >> senator, we were having a

conversation earlier with bill kristol who is with us here still. we were talking about when this began, when this problem really began. the first bad signal was sent to putin in 2008, was it not, when george w. bush didn't move after he went into georgia? >> something i strongly felt very strongly about that we didn't do enough. i think that's very clear and in 2008, the debate with barack obama, i said, watch crimea, because i know that vladimir putin will never give up, that he believes even though the president and john kerry believe this is not east/west, this is not the cold war but exactly what putin has treated it at and why there is has been a fundamental misreading of vladimir putin the intentions and things he will do. there is no doubt that he will not give up in crimea because of

his belief in the abroad -- go ahead. >> bill kristol? >> you were cosponsor of a bipartisan coalition that the congress passed i think over administration reluctance. how useful will that be in saxing psax i -- sanctioning putin and his friends to pull back? >> i think it's very important. the act you described earlier as i was watching targets individuals and makes their lives which they enjoy in places like london and las vegas much more difficult and it holds people responsible. unfortunately, the administration is not as expanded as much as we had wanted it to do, but already it's having an effect. first, we have to have a fundamental understanding what putin and what he is all about. he said there is no reset with vladimir putin. vladimir putin is not going to

appreciate the present to be, quote, more flexible after he is re-elected. vladimir putin wants the near abroad and now we are going to have to make sure. one of the things, bill, i think you would agree, is let's move forward with georgia and other -- especially georgia into -- into nato and that would be protection for them for further encouraging, cht russians are making into georgia as we speak. >> speaker mccain, it's willie good night here. you've been critical of the president the last couple of days calling his foreign policy weak and feckless. >> i just explained why because a fundamental misreading of vladimir putin and his intentions and the way that he treats the world and particularly in the area of the restoration of the old soviet union. didn't we pay attention when putin said the greatest disaster

was -- of the 20th century was dissolution of the soviet union? >> with that in mind, what would you have the president do at this moment that he hasn't done yet? putting history aside just for a moment in this moment, what would you have the president and the white house do today? >> announce a fundamental re-evaluation of our relationship with russia and move forward with georgia into nato. make it clear that the excuse of moving into countries because of russian populations there is a violation of every international law. restore and restart the missile defense in czechoslovakia and poland even nato exercises in the baltic country because they are feeling pressure.

there are russian speaking individuals in the baltic region as well. the other thing is recognize that vladimir putin does not want a democracy on his borders. borders. that would be a very bad example for -- from his point of view to be set for the russian people. >> senator, what do you suspect the world reaction would be, and what would your reaction be if it becomes apparent, if it becomes a reality that russia is going to keep crimea? >> i think that's a reality now. mike, i think it's a reality now and it's not going to change, but we should gauge vladimir putin and his ambitions for the restoration of the russian empire in what he is, not what we want him to be. the president said in his debate with mitt romney that the cold war was over 20 years ago. maybe in the president's eyes, but certainly not in vladimir

putin's eyes. >> that's the big difference right there. senator john mccain, thank you for being with us. that really is the case. wrote something earlier this week saying we in america believe we won the cold war in 1991. vladimir putin doesn't believe that. he thinks it continues. >> believes we won it, but only temporarily. we should look at the way we won it and what reagan did from 1980 on, without sending troops anywhere to help win the cold war. >> it's fascinating what you're saying about nato expansion as well. it's time to look at that again, isn't it? >> i think so, and the defense budget. jimmy carter, one thing to his credit, increased defense spending. what kind of example does it set when we're slashing the army and the defense across the board in the light of the world we're looking at? >> thank you. [ doctor ] and in a clinical trial versus lipitor,

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striking tv couple right there on the red carpet. >> yeah, yeah. >> very special. you look tan, rested, joe. >> yeah. some of hollywood's biggest names were on center stage at the 86th academy awards. the rest were at the vanity fair party. this year, "morning joe" got invited to the elite celebration. >> knows how to throw a party. >> longevity makes something classic. >> it's the coolest party.

everybody's here. >> vanity fair's annual oscar party. the hottest ticket in hollywood on oscars night that only the anointed will get a chance to see it up close, an invitation, they wrote, has become a ben addiction of sorts, even more rare, an invite from vanity fair where harrison ford, aaron sorkin enjoyed an intimate dinner with hollywood's most powerful players, and joe and mika. >> it's the a list of all a lists. >> in a sea of hollywood royalty and the red carpet more star studded than the oscars themselves, photo booth caught them at their most glamorous and playful. harvey weinstein said of the party there's not even a close second. a social arbiter among the power classes. from the talent manager irving

parr after his death. >> i thought it would be great to jump in there and do a smaller version of what he did and it evolved over the years to what it is today. >> it's simply hollywood's most elite gathering of the year. >> it's amazing what greatin has done over the past decade. >> we really don't know. >> you figured it out, though. that's the insta gram photo booth, the photographer that got mika in trouble before? >> right. >> he said why don't you put your leg up and mika -- i can't get any higher than this. i can, but my leg can only get so high. >> you crossed them, though. >> i did cross my leg. always crossed at the ankles. "morning joe" will be right back. >> so bad. ...return on investment wall isn't a street...

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good morning. it's 7:00 am on the east coast. 5:00 am on the west coast. take a live look at a very cold new york city. here we are, one of the coldest days of the year. wow! back with us on set. we've got willie geist. eugene robinson and julie pace. a month from now, the red sox will be playing baseball. >> they are. they are. april 4th, yes. >> it's hard to believe as cold as it is. >> playing on the frozen tundra.

>> if the snow melts by then. >> america wants to know -- i've been reading about this the past 12, 14 hours. >> about putin, right? >> yeah. was putin at the vanity fair party? >> we slipped him right out of the back when mccartney came in. >> mccartney was there? >> yeah. he must have seen me and run the opposite direction. but, no. as you guys know, gratin does it right. everybody -- everybody's there. we're not exactly sure why we were, but it was fascinating stuff. the one who got mika in trouble before, the photographer, tried to do it again. all these vanity fair shots. what they called the little photo booth. >> yeah. did you have to stay and clean up after or was that part of the package? >> of course, the worst part was right there. we had to actually talk to

lewis. >> the exclusive? >> yeah. that was the -- you have to talk to lewis. >> lewis of larry david? oh, so funny. >> by the way, larry david, we saw larry david twice, on friday at ri's party, then we saw him at gradin's place. friday, mika says, here, here. come here. takes out a breath mint and gives it to her. >> oh, really? >> yeah. so i'm thinking this is just sort of his move. this is what larry does. and then on sunday he's gone up to drops. hey, come here. come here. at the vanity fair party, mika's there. he goes, open your mouth. open your mouth. >> was it just mika, or was that like his thing that he does with people? >> i think it was just mika. i did not see him do it to jennifer lawrence. >> that's weird. >> isn't that crazy? i'm looking at the newspapers. de blasio is basically getting

elbowed aside by the governor on this terrible, terrible idea that they are actually even talking about at the vanity fair party these so-called liberals not believing what de blasio is trying to do with some of the best functioning charter schools in neighborhoods in new york. they were talking about it. >> were they really? >> yes. and they were talking about de bl sachlt blasio saying, hey, we're democrats. we hope he works it out. a lot of star that is have invested a lot in these harlem charter schools. >> it's a huge area of interest, as you say, not just for conservatives but for a lot of moderates and liberals i know. they've made it into an ideological war where he's taking a stand that he he wants kids in the conventional public schools. you know all the arguments for that.

>> except in this case, this is deeply personal. >> yes. >> he hates even moskowitz. in the end he he punishes, willie, a lot of minority children and parents. >> yeah. >> who feel like it's a god send that their children have been able to get into these schools that people are so desperate to get in that they have lotteries. >> yeah. not every charter school is a success. but this charter school, who has a longstanding feud with mayor de blasio has been successful. they're denying them free rent. he's really targeting them. people who run charter schools, parents of children who have done very well in these schools up in albany today, protesting.

the mayor does need the help of governor cuomo. this is state funding. he can't do this unilaterally and governor cuomo has shown he probably won't go along with it. >> good for governor cuomo. de blasio is standing in the school door not for middle class students but students from the lowest income families. crimea, moments ago russian president vladimir putin spoke to reporters calling the ouster of ukraine's president a military coup and saying the people should be able to choose their future on what he called a level playing field. he added there's no need to use military force in crimea for now but does reserve the right to do so.

trade talks and even congress is drafting its own sanctions, initial estimate that is 6,000 russian troops in the peninsula have ballooned to 16,000. for all intents and purposes those troops do control the area. they sang together in defines, but their ships are blocked and russia ordered the crews to surrender or be stormed. ukraine's industrial east, protests have turned deadly, 11 cities have seen pro-russian protests. in some, protesters have stormed buildings there. little appetite in the u.s. or europe to get involved militarily at this point. there is a growing rift over what posture the united states should take. >> is for russia with impunity to put its soldiers on the ground and violate basic principles that are recognized around the world. and i think the strong

connotation it's received from countries around the world indicates the degree to which russia is on the wrong side of the history on this. >> we can -- there's a broad array of options that we have. why do we care? because this is the ultimate result of a feckless foreign policy that nobody believes in america's strength anymore. >> as that clip showed, of course, even though this isn't an international crisis there are political questions that are being raised, raising questions about barack obama's strength and judgments, commander in chief. as john mccain said, he believes and some republican believe he's feckless and it doesn't have just to do with what's happening in the ukraine but syria, iran, afghanistan and benghazi. they are talking points used by the president's foreign policy critics and now remind us that a mocked mitt romney in a presidential debate when the republican nominee claimed that vladimir putin's russia would be

one of the greatest global threat threats. >> governor romney, when asked what was the biggest geopolitical threat, you said russia. the cold war has been over for 20 years. >> russia indicated is a geopolitical foe. excuse me. and i said in the same paragraph, i said and iran is the greatest national security threat we face. russia does continue to battle us in the u.n. time and time again. i have clear eyes on this. i'm not going to wear rose-colored glasses when it comes to russia or mr. putin and i'm certainly not going to say to him i'll give you more flexibility after the election. >> which is, of course, exactly what was said. the president's snippy retort about the '80s wanting their foreign policy back now makes

him look small. the diplomatic cores believe that neither vladimir putin nor any other world leaders on the stage fear barack obama enough to alter bad behavior. it bears noting that republicans grumbling about the democrats' failed policy in russia need to remember three things. george wncht bush claimed to look into his eyes and see the goodness of his soul. remember that? bush administration in charge that did very little to stop putin from invading georgia in 2008 to support breakaway factions to align with russia then and third, a quaint notion that despite all the shabby behavior over the past quarter century, politics should still end at the water's edge in time of crises. this is a time of crisis. great crisis. and what can we do, other than calling the president feckless

and attacking the president? obviously, i've got -- i share a lot of the same concerns that john mccain shares with barack obama's foreign policy. but i don't think that gets us anywhere right now. vladimir putin already believes barack obama's weak, to undercut him in the middle of this crisis. what can we do to make it hurt for vladimir putin? >> i think you're right to separate the issues. we've seen this movie before, as you just pointed out. we've seen it in georgia and even under regular nen poland in 1981. these are very hard situations to deal with. because we have limited options. nobody is going to send military forces into a place like this. remember that the crimea is 59% russian. they have a major base there. they gave it to the ukraine in 1954 as part of this sort of rearrangement of the soviet union. we have sanctions that we can put in place. we can limit the number of

visas. remember also, russia is a major energy producer, major oil exporter that serves much of europe's gas. there's a lot of economic dependence on the part of europe in russia. and options will be limited. i'm all in favor of kicking them out of the g-8, not going to sochi, limiting the visas. hopefully all of those things can contain russia but i think we're kidding ourselves that they're going to turn around and march out of the crimea. it's not going to happen. >> what are you finding in terms of options on the table? how serious is the white house taking this? do they think this is vladimir putin pushing the boundaries of his relationship with the president and the west? >> they certainly don't think it's bluster because we're seeing actual action. thousands of russian forces in crimea. one of the things that the administration is watching very closely, though, is do those forces go into other parts of ukraine?

there are big russian-speaking populati populations in eastern ukraine. does he try to contain his activities to crimea or does he move elsewhere? from the white house, the big option on the table is sanctions to top russian officials involved in this advance into ukraine. when you talk about sanctions, you also have to look at europe and see what europe is going to do on sanctions, what europe is going to do with their economic relationship with russia. the u.s. has a significant economic relationship with russia, but it pales in comparison to the relationship that europe has. officials in swrermny waverring a bit on what they're willing to do with the biggest economic power saying maybe we're not sure what we're going to do, that raises questions on how effective any action from the u.s. would be. >> rising level of hysteria among some people, particularly the republicans, towards what's happening in the ukraine and

president obama's action or, in the republicans' view, his inaction. it's probably led by lindsey graham's eye rolling comments that he made over the weekend. what is it about so many republicans, seemingly -- and some democrats -- who can't take just a second to view this crisis through the eyes of something other than people running for re-election in this country this year? >> you know, i have no idea because, you know, they criticize but there's no second sentence. like, okay, what would you do? what is your idea for dislodging vladimir putin's troops from crimea? and the answer is, they wouldn't do anything. i mean, there is not a way to dislodge the russians. the europeans are not interested in applying sanctions that would hurt, because of the economic relationship. europe gets so much of its natural gas from russia.

and there's no constituency in europe for a new cold war. they've lived through that. they don't want to live through that again. so, there are not -- it's not that there aren't a lot of options. there really aren't any viable options right now. and somebody like lindsey graham who knows foreign policy to be perfectly aware of that. as joe said, this is an instance in which we could end this sort of bickering at, you know, the border and present at least a unified condemnation of what putin is doing and try to find jointly some way forward, with the realistic expectation that, look, if he wants crimea, he's going to keep crimea. >> i want to fill in more of the blanks on this. charter school story this morning last week called the school bully.

mayor bill de blasio is facing pushback for his move to block three charter schools here, already approved for free space in public buildings by former mayor mike bloomberg. now charter school supporters are launching a multi-million dollar ad buy to put pressure on the mayor. >> i voted for mayor de blasio because he talked about looking out for the have-nots. >> he talked about the tale of two cities but want to take away options from the communities that need it most. >> my daughter would have a better opportunity the a charter school. >> doing so great for my son. i don't know why he wouldn't be supportive of that. >> despite the success of public charter schools, mayor de blasio wants to stop them from opening and expanding. >> my child deserves a chance to succeed. >> also speaking out in favor of charter schools, governor cuomo said he would support giving extra money to charter schools that have been kicked out of

public facilities by the mayor. he was an outspoken opponent of charter schools, questioning eva moskowitz. last year he said, quote, she has to stop being tolerated, enabled and supported. he also said there is no way in hell that eva moskowitz should get free rent. 55% of students passed english exams last year. 83% passed math zblun believable. not only is it above city averages but some schools are being shut down, some classes that are doing better than like scarsdale. they always talk about the harlem scarsdale comparison. the dream has been to get harlem at least up on course, on par with that. that is happening right now. and this is so personal for him and such a petty attack, because he promised the teachers unions, elect me and i'm going to destroy these schools up in

harlem and other place that is have some of the best success stories in new york. >> i think it's a slightly broader issue. there's a deep philosophical question of whether all kids should be educated together and the kids who are not as capable will benefit from being in classroom with his the more capable and the whole concept of public edition meaning everyone together versus what a lot of people -- frankly the business community have led which is the idea you shouldn't have a monopoly. schools should compete just like any other business and you'll get a better result of that. and getting them out of the teachers union you'll get a better result. that's daetioloideological batt fought here. >> it's not much of an ideological battle here anymore, is it? i'll tell you what. most progressives believe, like most conservatives, that we should do whatever we can do to help poor children of color that are trapped in these horrible

school systems. it is hard to find somebody around this table, and they're mainly democrats around this table, that don't support what's going on up in harlem with these charter schools. it is hard to find that person unless they're directly related to the teachers union. that's what cuomo is doing here. i think it's a very smart move. very smart move. and i'll go back and say, speaking of -- this was a discussion at the vanity fair party, a person very well known, big celebrity said the mayor wants me to work on his pre-k team. i think giving kids the opportunity through pre-k is a great idea and i would support it but not just so we trap them in bad schools starting, you know, in kindergarten. he said i'm not going to help him do that. if he's actually going to be usi using crass politics to pay back tomorrow teacher unions to stop

the poorest and most needy kids to get a chance to go into schools where they actually reward success. mike allen and dramatic testimony in day one of the oscar pistorius trial. what one witness heard moments before shots rang out. first bill karins has a look at the forecast. bill? >> on this mardi gras, fat tuesday, this is not what they had planned out in new orleans. you picture parades, parties and people that don't have enough clothes on. today they're bundled up. it's 36 degrees in new orleans this morning. these temperatures -- this looks like a january map. all the way from the rockies to the east coast. and, unfortunately, we even have i-10 shut down across louisiana right now because of ice. they're having an ice storm with freezing rain. there are power outages on the north side of houston, from freezing rain last night. that's something that maybe happens once every three or four winters, let alone the first week of march. temperatures will warm up there,

but this morning dangerous conditions. the forecast for today, still very cold from kansas city to boston, including d.c. who had 16" of snow yesterday. thankfully, we will melt that. saturday certainly looks nice. 55 degrees. i think only two weeks away from the cherry blossom festival in d.c. we need to get rid of the snow first. we leave you in the shot of a bitterly cold d.c. we avoided the snow, but the cold is here to stay. you're watching "morning joe." ♪

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day two of the murder trial for olympian oscar pistorius under way in south africa. he entered his not guilty plea yesterday for the murder of his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp. >> do you understand the charges, mr. pistorius? >> i do. >> how do you plead? >> not guilty, my lady. >> dramatic testimony from a neighbor outlined the terrifying moments leading up to the shooting. >> just before the gunshots, it was blood-crudling. it was something that leaves you cold. it's something that you can't portray in the court. you can't explain it. you just know that a woman's life was really threatened. >> he says he thought steenkamp was an intruder. from the parade of papers, los angeles times raising

questions about how the military screen recruits. one in five soldiers had a common mental illness such as adhd, panic disorder or depression before enlisting. in addition nearly 8% of soldiers contemplated suicide before joining the army. >> the herald ledger, two corvettes swallowed by a sink hole at the national museum in kentucky will soon be back on display. >> that's not good. >> crews used a crane to pull them from a 30-foot sinkhole that swallowed them up last month. amazingly only minor damage to the 2009 blue devil zr-1. '93 ruby red corvette needs new windows and body panels but they can save it. six cars remain in the hole. >> crazy. man who delivered pizza to the hospital walked away with a really big tip. giving him a $1,000 tip. she collected some of the money during the oscars and some on

her own. he says he had no idea he would wind up on tv. he also says the exposure has boosted his business. >> he said he thought he was delivering to the writer's room and ellen walks in, drags him on stage. >> oh, my god. she was really good. >> if you haven't had breakfast yet, you may want to head over to i-hop, giving out free short stacks today in honor of national pancake day. keep the kids home from school. the deal runs between 7:00 and 10:00 am. customers are limited, though, to just one stack. asked to give a donation. i-hop has raised nearly $13 million for charities since it created the holiday in 2006. >> that's america. >> that's america. >> america. chief white house correspondent from politico, another great american, mike allen. how are you doing, man? >> good. >> back in the opium den this morning, huh? a lot going on behind him.

>> what is going on? >> you have a piece talking about the ongoing crisis in ukraine and politico angle, too, posing a problem perhaps for hillary clinton if she decides to run for president in 2016. describe the connection there. >> secretary of state clinton w was the face of the reset in 2009 in her second month in office in moscow in one of her first trips and presented the russian foreign minister with an actual gift wrap read reset button. of the many obama policies that she's now tethered to that she'll have to answer questions about healthcare, the nsa. she has been so quiet. her advisers think she doesn't have to jump out and make a statement about everything. but, willie, as we can see here on the show, this is no passing issue. her book is going to be out

soon. she'll be doing mid-term campaigning. politico sees increasing pressure on secretary clinton to talk about some of these issues. now, some people will say, well, she was a little bit out of the loop on some of these decisions. that's not going to be a defense she's going to use. her plan is to stick with president obama, but it make it is hard for her to chart her own course as she heads out on this campaign. >> right. >> we've even seen senator john mccain, who as you know, has been very sxourtive of her in the past, joked about her, said she was totally wrong about this. >> this just shows again, doesn't it, that the long march perhaps to entering the race to hillary clinton, the longer this drags out, the more hits she's going to take. whatever issue of the day comes up will be a link somehow to hillary clinton. >> absolutely, especially if it's something that happened on foreign policy when she was secretary of state. that red reset button moment we are going to see played over and over again. and i actually am interested to hear from her on what she was

thinking at that time and whether she thinks that that was the right policy, given what we've seen now. >> and, gene robinson, there will be a lot of policies that she'll be exposed on. basically a neocon. she has been in support of military intervention as much as anybody along with, let's say, john mccain. she comes from the john mccain camp. i wonder if democrats will be really thrilled about nominating a neocon in 2016. >> she get it is from both sides essentially. >> right. >> no shrinking violet when it comes to u.s. intervention and will get it from the progressive wing of the democratic party and also from republicans who say she's not tough enough and wanted to reset with russia. this is a problem with have iin record in washington. so, if you want to be elected, you know, president, don't have a record, i think, these days. because it's just going to follow you around. you'll be criticized of it. >> politico's mike allen with a

look at playbook. thanks. >> have a great national pancake day. >> we will. we're going to get some shorts after the show today. affordable care act and his prognosis, not good, huh? good. he likes what he says. >> what? >> we'll be right back. so we're up early. up late. thinking up game-changing ideas, like this: dozens of tax free zones across new york state. move here. expand here. or start a new business here... and pay no taxes for 10 years. with new jobs, new opportunities and a new tax free plan. there's only one way for your business to go. up. find out if your business can qualify at start-upny.com they don't know it yet, but they're gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together

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as you take a look at the white house, let's bring in former adviser, university of pennsylvania, dr. zeke emmanuel, how the affordable care act will improve our terribly complex, blatantly unjust, out rageously expensive. >> rolls right off the tongue. >> i wanted this jonathan swift 18th century title. >> you got it. >> if that's what you call it, you got it. now we know why his brother is the one in hollywood. >> yes. >> although he was at the oscar new england journal of medicine party, red hot. >> alone. alone. i was the only person. >> so, zeke, what are you diagnosing this book?

laying out the problems first? if so, how are we doing now over the last couple of years with addressing them? >> i do talk about the problems, end of the book projections into the future. health care is doing well. lots of people are nervous because there's lots of change. health care inflation is down to its lowest point in more than two decades. we've had reduced remissions. quality is going up in many ways. i think we're focusing on more value for patients. i'm an optimist about the system. at the end of the book i have these six mega trends for the future. one of which is i think healthcare inflation will go down in growth in the gdp by the end of the decade. >> why do you think we're doing brt now and when did it begin? >> some of the healthcare inflation began before the recession, no doubt about t some of it was structural changes before, but some of it is definitely the affordable care act and it's changed the psychology of healthcare that we really have to get serious about controlling costs and doing better for people by controlling

costs. one of the places we'll see a big, big difference is attention to people with chronic illness. knows are the people who use the health care system. and the best places now are really focusing on them, predicting who they are, giving them a lot of services. i refer to it as v.i.p. care for people with chronic and mental illness. that will be the wave of the future. >> gene? >> zeke, last time you and i talked about the affordable care act, you said president obama should have appointed a ceo to roll out the program and make sure that it functioned the way it should. >> right, right. >> is that still a valid criticism, still your criticism? how do you think things are going now? >> it's not a criticism. in 2010 when we passed a legislation and i was still in the white house, it was a suggestion. look, the website and the exchanges are really an e-commerce business and need to be run like an ecommerce business. they need to have a ceo and a staff that's focused every day on how we get the best product

out there. how do we get the best news or experience? that's still vitally important. i haven't changed my view on that at all. and i do think we need to understand, this is really like amazon and like lots of other sites that are selling goods and products. i think that's a very important thing. and if you look at the successes, like connecticut, like california, they do have this ceo person, who has experience in the health insurance marketplace and has a very good staff to help them run it. and so i -- you know, i still think management is important and execution is important. >> steve? oh, i'm sorry, julie. go ahead. >> that's okay. zeke, administration officials say they're considering expanding and extending this provision that would allow people to stay on these subpar plans that were suppose d to be canceled. obviously there's a lot of politics involved in this. just from a health policy standpoint, doesn't extending the subpar plans even longer go

against the very nature of this law, which was supposed to not only cover more people, but give people higher quality coverage? >> this is part of the balancing act of transitioning people over and making it as smooth as possible while trying to get everyone to a good coverage that isn't, as you say, the subpar plans that don't really cover people and give them a false sense of security. i think that transition ought to go faster. the important thing is to get the transition and to make sure that people are switched over and really do have protection when, god forbid, they get some serious illness or get in an accident or really need the health care system. these subpar plans that are, whatever, $3,000, $5,000 of coverage don't really even cover anything serious. a simple operation like an appendicitis will blow right through it and people will not really be protected. and so i think we need to get people the kind of protection that's in the affordable care act. >> zeke, without disagreeing

with anything you said -- actually, i agree with everything you said. >> oh, no, now i'm going to doubt myself. >> no, you should -- thanks a lot. that's a compliment to me. are we stip tll tiptoeing arounn issue here, how do we deal with end of life care, cost a huge amount of money but we as a society aren't willing to say no? counseling toward the end of life. sarah palin turned in the death panels and it got taken out. won't we get to that tough moral issue of who gets care under what circumstances? >> no, i don't think we need to get to the rationing issue. end of life, a lot of people have a misconception we're spending 40%, 50% of the healthcare dollars on end of life care. it's 10% of dollars that go to end of life care. in my opinion, we need to focus on improving the quality there. we really need to focus on getting people them the care they want. 40% of hospitals in america that

don't have paliative care services. that should be our focus. then people will feel a lot more comfortable with knowing that they can go home, be with their family and get high-quality care. >> dr. zeke emanuel. how will the markets react to the crisis in ukraine? before the bell is next.

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what's your policy? you stand behind what you say. there's a saying around here, around here you don't make excuses. you make commitments. and when you can't live up to them, you own up, and make it right. some people think the kind of accountability that thrives on so many streets in this country has gone missing in the places where it's needed most. but i know you'll still find it when you know where to look. welcome back, everybody. cnbc business before the bell with sara eisen. >> a little bit of turnaround

tuesday here. and that's markets sharply higher. look at stocks around the world. you saw the open in europe higher, u.s. futures pointing to a much sharper start after yesterday, big sell-off. catalyst that everybody has been talking about, president putin ordering troops back to base. that was a huge sigh of relief for global markets. not just stocks. safer haven kind of trades where people go to hide during times of turmoil that were up yesterday, those are also showing signs of relief. so we're talking about gold under pressure today, treasuries under pressure. so there's less of a need for sort of that safe flight to quality kind of trade and instead they're going into stocks. it looks like a big rebound ahead of the opening bell. >> you had a question for sara? >> yeah. sarah, how long do you think this rebound can actually last? one of the things we've seen from the magnitude of reaction yesterday is that there is an

air of nervousness among many investors about what's going on right now and it's very striking that, yes, traders are relieved we seem to be talking about a standoff in the ukraine rather than a complete full-blown crisis. the bigger questions about what's happening with the emerging markets have actually been reawakened as a result of this whole debacle. >> president putin actually talked about global markets and the federal reserve. when he was asked during the press conference about the market turmoil, he said part of it is the federal reserve in this country to blame for withdrawing some of its stimulus, which has really put a spotlight on some of the weaker emerging markets, because investors have been yanking money out of these countries, including russia. it was interesting that he actually pointed to that. i think you're right to be cautious. it's always hard to tell how these geopolitical events will resonate with traders, with investors. clearly there's still a lot of caution and there's still a lot of room for volatility or sharp

swings. it's hard to know. the key here is russia, of course. ukraine, not as big an economy. russia, one of the g-8 members, that's everything. >> cnbc's sara eisen. thank you. appreciate it. brian williams, who doesn't like brian williams? >> i get a sense that -- hang in there. >> if there is one person out there, you're looking at the baby who doesn't like brian, coming up next. predicting the future is a pretty difficult thing to do. but, manufacturing in the united states means advanced technology. we learned that technology allows us to be craft oriented. no one's losing their job. there's no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. the technology is actually creating new jobs. siemens designed and built the right tools and resources to get the job done.

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down when you're wearing a hot olympic sweater, mike barnicle. do you know that? >> i found that out over the years. what jimmy kimmel has been treeming about since he came on the scene. he did his best to get the mayor going. ford was really on his best behavior last night. >> to offense to our mayor but i want to show you some things. he's a great guy. he is an excellent mayor but this is eric garcetti meeting some supporters, picnic of some kind. there's you with your supporters. there's eric, holding somebody's baby. there's rob ford holding

somebody's baby! >> eric garcetti enjoying a baseball game. there's rob ford enjoying a sporting event. you are sweating a lot. let me get you some tissues here. mind if i dab you, mr. mayor? i'll be auctioning this off on ebay afterwards. ooh actually i'm going to take this dna and clone you and have a whole army of you. >> could you imagine? one place he would not have that problem is in brian williams studio. 49 degrees most times. brian williams is one of the most popular news personalities out there these days. as seth meyers points out, not everybody is a huge fan. >> today it came up online, a video of someone who might not be a huge fan of yours. let's take a look at that real quick. >> are you watching the news? are you watching the news without brian williams? uh-oh. there he is. there's brian williams.

dude, what's wrong? you don't like brian williams? oh, let's turn it off. let's turn that off. uh-oh. it's brian williams. he's gone. he's gone. it's just a hurricane now. >> you are not appealing to the younger demo. what happened? >> it's disturbing. as a father of two, first of all, he is being goaded by the dad. >> he is. >> everybody loves brian williams. if there's a baby out there that doesn't like mike barnicle and you can shoot video of it, send it to us. >> brian was right, he was goading his son. >> chuck todd was on that screen, too. i'm just saying. the brutal winter has been tough on all of us, tv reporters

may have the worst of it, having to get out there in the elements and describe the lems. check out this local reporter, pretty good as he gets the treatment, buries him in a live report. longer look of this clip tells a slightly different story. >> we're in woodstown. only one philly born and raised, known as hilly flitcraft. he only had one summer with the phillies. couple of plows demonstrating what i said, hitting us. there you go. here comes another one. >> steve? >> four plow trucks. four plow trucks and you can still -- snow covered. so, that is the beauty of breaking news. >> legs of steel on that guy right there, mike barnicle. >> that was close. >> wasn't that good, though? >> but that was close. >> but it was good we took everybody behind the scenes to show them the unedited version. >> live tv. >> live tv. >> nothing like it.

>> anything can happen. up next, what, if anything, did we learn today? stick around. here in philadelphia you can access a philly cheesesteak

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welcome back to "morning joe." your dad, come on. clean him up a little bit. >> i don't think you know very much about russia, dad. >> oh, wow, that's tough. >> trash talk. >> thank you. >> what did you learn, mike? >> i learned that russia is part of crimea or crimea is part of russia. >> see, he knows something, julie. what did you learn, thomas? >> that julie inherited her dad's sharp tongue and that meditation and napping -- going to teach us the difference. >> you took the words out of my mouth, i'm going to be meditating with russell simmons and the def jam family. >> the dr. seuss book, are you my mother? russell simmons will have his own book out "hey, do you work for me?" he has so many people working for him. the whole newsroom is working for him.

it's way too early. willie, what time is it? >> "morning joe." stick around now for chuck todd. is there an exit ramp approaching as russian troops amass in crimea? vladimir putin denies they're even russian. a lot of moving part this is morning as secretary kerry arrives in ukraine. what we can learn about the entire 2014 campaign and how one candidate is working on 50 years of family history on the ballot. and more developing news this morning. the president's outside political operation making changes in the wake of an exclusive nbc news report on their fund-raising operation. we'll have more on what organizing for action chief jim